Bike festival fun for all

Students celebrated all things two wheeled at Brigshaw High School in Allerton Bywater when they took part in a bike festival.

A spectacular exhibition from Extreme Mountain Bike Show performers Britain’s Got Talent finalist and UCI junior world champion Joe Oakley and British junior champion and European Cup winner Ashley Butler launched the festival.

Bike festival at Brigshaw high school.'Joe Oakley and Ashley Butler from the extreme mountain bike show put on a display.

Students then had the chance to take part in a variety of activities, including static rollerbikes and a smoothie bike – a blender attached to a static bike which is pedalled to work it.

Sustainable transport charity Sustrans and Leeds City Council co-ordinated a skills course for students, using Brigshaw’s new pool bikes.

There was also a range of unusual bikes for them to try, including tandems, unicycles, a recumbent bike and and a penny-farthing.

West Yorkshire Police, Edinburgh Bikes and Dr Bike were also on hand to check out students’ bikes and mark them with security details.

The event, hosted by Brigshaw, was organised by Sustrans as part of the build-up to the Tour de France in Yorkshire next summer.

Children from years seven to ten took it in turns to visit the festival, which took place on the school fields.

Simon Riley, vice-principal, said: “We were delighted to be able to host this event with our partners at Sustrans.

“Our pupils were amazed by the Extreme Mountain Bike Show – the skill and strength of the riders was truly unbelievable.

“There is definitely a building sense of excitement about the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire next summer, and Brigshaw and its primary school partners are planning many more cycling and cultural events like this in the next year.”

Kippax and Methley councillors Keith Wakefield, James Lewis and Mary Harland also came along to watch the action and said they were impressed with the school’s efforts to get more children involved in cycling.

Coun Lewis said: “In the year before the Tour de France takes place in Leeds, I’m delighted to see work to encourage cycling underway.

“Encouraging journeys to school and leisure cycling is great, and if the students get hooked to cycling they’ll be keeping fit and helping to reduce congestion through their lives.”